Nourishing The Soul In Wycoller

You may have guessed from my Instagram, but this year I’ve vowed to spend a bit more time outdoors. Exploring new places is one of my favourite things and being close to nature always leaves me feeling more centred and inspired.

So with that in mind, I recently spent the weekend in Wycoller Country Park. Now, I should confess something here: I’d heard about Wycoller, but never been. As such I didn’t realise it was only 15 minutes down the road from my house. Now I know I will definitely be visiting more often!

Why Is There To Do?

You mean other than the taking in the rolling hills and lovely views?

Wycoller offers a number of walks, with something for every ability. Admittedly, I didn’t think these were sign posted that well, but if you head over to the park’s website you can find details of the various trails and work out which is one best for you.

If you don’t fancy conquering the hills, there are also ruins to explore and rivers to paddle in, along with bird watching posts and a barn full of local history artifacts.

On our walk we headed up to the Atom (though to me it looked more like a UFO) It’s basically a round sculpture that you can enter and see perfect ‘snapshots’ of the scenes. Whilst my visit to Wycoller was child free, the children there certainly enjoyed seeing a piece of art they could hide in and scramble through.

Talking of kids, you may not know it but Wycoller boasts its own village of fairies!

On the way down to the village keep your eyes peeled for colourful little doors nestled in the trees. Nobody (it is claimed) knows where the doors have come from, only that they appeared a few months ago.

Even as I’m heading into my late twenties (gulp) it was great to see someone had made such an effort to bring a touch of magic for the visitors – they really made me smile!

Another thing that made me smile was the tea room.

With old stone floors, bare brick walls and a roaring log fire, this is the quirkiest, cosiest place you could visit. Full of mismatched tables, rugs, trinkets and lit in the soft glow of Tiffany lamps here you can get ‘proper food’ such as pie and peas and home made soup.

I opted for a scone and hot chocolate and trust me when I say you will not find a bigger scone. Or a chocolate-ier hot drink.

Why Visit?

It is simple, down to earth and nourishes the soul in a way bigger or more established parks can’t. Wycoller is not the day out you need to plan in advance, pack for and pencil in. All you need a pound for parking and the desire to do something different.

With so many walks on offer, you can pass through the dog walkers and find yourself truly, quietly alone. In a world full of notifications and crowds, being away from the world with no signal feels liberating. It feels like free time should.